Australian Music Therapy Association

05/06/2026

AMTA invites health professionals to learn more about the role of music therapy in neonatal care at our one-day course on 19 June 2026 in Melbourne.

Internationally recognised leader in NICU and medical music therapy Professor Joanne Loewy (pictured) from the Louis Armstrong Centre for Music and Medicine will lead the training. Strongly recommended for anyone who works with registered music therapists and/or in NICU, this is an extremely rare opportunity to expand your understanding of music therapy in the hospital setting.

👉 First Sounds: Rhythm, Breath, Lullaby
📆 19 June 2026, from 9am to 5pm
📍 Health Education and Learning Precinct (HELP) at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne
🏥 For medical, health and allied health professionals

After attending day 1, registered music therapists are also invited to the second part of First Sounds: Rhythm, Breath, Lullaby on 20 and 21 June.

To learn more, visit the event listing on AMTA's website: https://www.austmta.org.au/eventdetails/35486/amta2026-advanced-competency-first-sounds-rhythm-breath-lullaby-rbl


📷 A music therapist, with her guitar, in a neonatal intensive care ward with parents, who are holding a small baby. The music therapist and the mother look up at a display showing the baby's heart rate.

04/06/2026

Media release: ‘Deeply flawed’ pricing advice will leave older Australians without care, AMTA warns. Pricing advice to government sets music therapy at $146/hour - up to 95% below comparable allied health professions - risking access for thousands of older Australians.

AMTA President Monica Zidar RMT says the decision will also affect the broader health system, which will absorb the downstream impacts.

“Every music therapy session that reduces agitation, prevents a fall or supports someone with dementia to stay calm and engaged at home, is a potential ambulance call-out that doesn’t happen, an emergency presentation that is avoided," she said. "When we underprice allied health in aged care, we pay for it elsewhere in the system - and older Australians pay for it with their wellbeing.”

For more, see the full release on AMTA's website:

29/05/2026

The music therapy unit price advice for Support at Home aged care has been confirmed - and AMTA has serious questions about it.
IHACPA’s Support at Home Pricing Advice 2026–27, released this week, recommends the unit price for music therapist services at $146.49/hour (weekdays, normal hours).

That price sits significantly below every comparable allied health profession in the same service category - occupational therapists ($230.31), speech pathologists ($251.46), exercise physiologists ($203.10), physiotherapists ($209.38) - a contrast that demands urgent explanation.

AMTA is seeking immediate clarification from IHACPA on the data and methodology behind this figure. We will be issuing a media release and hosting a member webinar on Thursday 4 June - details to follow.

We have been at the table on this from the start. In April 2026, AMTA lodged a formal submission to IHACPA’s 2026–27 pricing consultation, calling for:

• sustainable pricing that reflects the real costs of sole practitioners and small providers
• recognition of administrative, regulatory and CPD costs unique to NASRHP-registered professions
• adequate funding for travel in rural, regional and remote areas
• preservation of group therapy programs as CHSP transitions to Support at Home
• active engagement with small providers who have been underrepresented in cost collections

Sustainable pricing isn’t just a business issue - it’s a patient access issue. Music therapy delivers evidence-based benefits for older Australians: reducing depression, anxiety and dementia-related agitation; improving memory, communication and quality of life. If pricing doesn’t reflect the true cost of delivering this care, older Australians pay the price and it becomes a broader health system issue.

Read the full member update:

29/05/2026

The latest edition of the Australian Journal of Music Therapy features a book review of Music, Time, and Self: A Time Model for Nordoff-Robbins Clinical Improvisation by Dr Tamar Hadar and Kenneth Aigen.

The reviewer, Dr Oliver O'Reilly RMT, is well placed to comment, having originally trained in the Nordoff-Robbins approach. "The music-centred nature of the therapeutic relationship and analysis shines through this model," he writes.

Thanks to Dr O'Reilly for an insightful analysis.

🔗 Read the article: https://www.austmta.org.au/australian-journal-of-music-therapy/read/volume-361-2025/book-review-hadar-t-aigen-k-2024-music-time-and-self/
🔗 Explore volume 36(1):https://www.austmta.org.au/australian-journal-of-music-therapy/read/

Source: O’Reilly, O.(2025). [Review of the book Music, time, and self: A time model of Nordoff-Robbins clinical improvisation, by T. Hadar & K. Aigen]. Australian Journal of Music Therapy, 36(1), 38–40. https://doi.org/10.65328/2025.bpbq8410


📷 Dr Oliver O'Reilly holds a guitar and addresses an audience. His name is written below, with text "Book review". The Australian Journal of Music Therapy logo.

27/05/2026

🎤 Podcast alert! The British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) podcast, Music Therapy Conversations, features Australian registered music therapists.

In the second of a 2-part series, Anita Connell, PhD RMT and her roving microphone recorded conversations at AMTA’s national conference last year.

Tune in to hear Anita's interviews with Dr Grace Thompson RMT, Brodie Henry RMT, Zoë Kalenderidis RMT and Rob Devlin RMT.

AMTA sends gratitude to Anita for undertaking this project, which places more Australian RMT voices on the world stage and celebrates the association's 50th anniversary.

🎧 Have a listen: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-107-anita-connell-at-the-amta-conference-part-2/id1191477723?i=1000757260244

Podcast Episode · Music Therapy Conversations · 25 March · 1hr 8min

21/05/2026

AMTA was created with volunteer power, and now it’s driven with the same energy and professionalism – by practising clinicians, researchers, educators and leaders. In National Volunteer Week, we thank our 120+ volunteers, across AMTA’s Board of Directors, committees, working groups, advisors and representatives. Together, they advocate for music therapy in Australia and help support registered music therapists and the people they work with.

Registration Chair Mark Fleming RMT is a great example. Mark played a significant role in reforming AMTA’s registration and regulation policies and procedures to meet the exacting standards of the National Association of Self Regulating Professions (NASRHP) - a feat which led to AMTA’s full membership last year.

“I came to volunteering for the experience, but I kept volunteering for the connections and feeling of contributing to the profession,” he said.

Read more from Mark and just a few of our many volunteers in our latest news article:
https://www.austmta.org.au/news-item/23373/volunteer-week-powering-connection-across-music-therapy


📷 A group of registered music therapists behind the text "National Volunteer Week. 18-24 May 2026. Your year to volunteer."

15/05/2026

Lauren Salib RMT works with babies and their families in scary, stressful, exhausting times. Over and over again she sees babies respond to music-making from their parents and caregivers.

"Your voice is your baby's favourite sound," Lauren told Gorgi Cochlan on ABC Melbourne. "As soon as I invite the parents to sing with me, that baby will fix on their mum or dad."

Hear the ABC's Gorgi Coghlan chat with Lauren about her work in the neonatal intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital for Women, over on the ABC's website: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-breakfast/mercy-womens-hospital-music-therapy/106557594

Are you a healthcare professional who'd like to learn more about music therapy in NICU? Check out AMTA's upcoming training event, First Sounds: Rhythm, Breath, Lullaby. It's an internationally recognised, evidence-based training developed by Professor Joanne Loewy (USA) and world leaders in NICU music therapy.


https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-breakfast/mercy-womens-hospital-music-therapy/106557594

Music Therapist, Lauren Salib joined Breakfast to discuss the initiative and sing a lullaby or two.

14/05/2026

The procurement process for Thriving Kids in NSW risks excluding private providers - a significant portion of Australia's allied health workforce.

AMTA is actively advocating for the inclusion of music therapy and working with Allied Health Professions Australia to support the role of private providers in the Thriving Kids model.

Read AMTA's statement: https://www.austmta.org.au/news-item/23211/thriving-kids-private-providers-must-have-access

📷 A child and a registered music therapist play guitar together. Text: "Public statement: Thriving Kids procurement". AMTA logo.

13/05/2026

With our allied health colleagues and Allied Health Professions Australia, AMTA notes the Federal Budget's missed opportunity to lower barriers to allied healthcare across aged care, mental health and primary care settings. AMTA remains concerned about the ongoing lack of detail around NDIS reform and the Thriving Kids implementation, as mentioned in the budget.

AMTA CEO Amanda Quealy says registered music therapists are uniquely placed to provide clinical interventions with children under 8 years with development delay and/or autism. For some, this early intervention is the most accessible form of therapy that they can engage in.

“Within the backdrop of national allied health workforce shortages, music therapists are ready to become more accessible and better utilised in a range of healthcare settings across the lifespan - from prenatal care to aged care, in hospitals, community settings and anywhere in between,” she said.

“Experience shows us that an integrated system of service providers across public services, NGOs and private practitioners is the best way to support clients with complex needs."

Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA) says the 2026-27 Federal Budget fails to address allied health access barriers across aged care, mental health, and primary care, while further reducing access to capacity building supports for people with disability. Delivered under tight fiscal conditio

12/05/2026

Across World Music Therapy Week, we heard so many stories of how music therapy impacts people's lives.

We heard from registered music therapists, hospitals, clinics, aged care providers, charities and community organisations around Australia as they shared stories on this year’s theme, ‘Connect with music therapy’.

Check out our latest blog post to see some of the highlights, showcasing the many ways music therapy supports people across hospitals, aged care, disability services, schools and community settings.

https://www.austmta.org.au/news-item/23036/connect-with-music-therapy

📷 Text: "World music therapy week. Connect with music therapy." Image of a registered music therapist pushing her keyboard along a hospital corridor, as her guitar leans against the wall.